Straight Talk Commentary –Opinions about Immigration are intense. While immigration is not at the top of the list of hot button political issues today, it remains a national issue that must be dealt with. Even within the health care reform debate there lies an immigration component.

The article below on Google founder Sergey Brin from Saturday’s NY Times highlights why immigration is both the nature and the strength of America. Before many of my conservative brethren go medieval on me; for the record I support a pro immigration policy, but believe immigration must be legal and English must be the both the legal and commercial language of our Country.

The United States is a nation of immigrants – a melting pot.  First generations of Americans came to our shores for opportunity and the promise of a better way of life. Opportunity – Opportunity – Opportunity!

America’s greatness lies in equality of opportunity and the ability to succeed (yes that means financially), For America to grow a provide succeeding generations with a better way of life several things are needed, access to a quality free education, opportunity, and a free market system that allows for reward.

The Sergey Brin / Google story is a perfect example. Brin’s story reminds me of a PBS documentary I saw a few years ago titled “From Shtetl to Swing.”  PBS notes that this documentary is “The story of the melding of Jewish and African-American musical influences that led to the development of American popular entertainment.”

There was a piece in the show that says it all to me. A Jewish songwriter – lyricist Yip Harburg wrote the words to the Judy Garland classic from “The Wizard of Oz”, “Over the Rainbow.”

Harburg’s lyrics the PBS show said was the story of Jewish immigrants who saw America as the Land of Opportunity, a place where dreams can come true.

Sidebar – “Over the Rainbow” won the Academy Award for Best Music Original Song. The song was also named number one “Song of the Century” by the Recording Industry Association of America, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Billionaire Aids Charity That Aided Him

By: Stephanie Strom

The New York Times

October 24, 2009

Were it not for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, there might be no Google.

Thirty years ago today, Sergey Brin, a 6-year-old Soviet boy facing an uncertain future, arrived in the United States with the help of the society.

Now Mr. Brin, the billionaire co-founder of Google, is giving $1 million to the society, widely known as HIAS, which helped his family escape anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and establish itself here.

“I would have never had the kinds of opportunities I’ve had here in the Soviet Union, or even in Russia today,” Mr. Brin said in an interview. “I would like to see anyone be able to achieve their dreams, and that’s what this organization does.”

The gift is small, given Mr. Brin’s estimated $16 billion in personal wealth, but he said it signaled a growing commitment by him and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, to engage more substantially in philanthropy.

“We’ve given away over $30 million so far, which isn’t so tiny but obviously small in terms of our, um, theoretical wealth,” Mr. Brin said. “Our philanthropy is something I want to take my time with and develop and systematize.”

He has already learned enough about philanthropy to add immediately: “Our foundation is not soliciting proposals. Please make sure to include that.”

Mr. Brin noted that Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft , was widely criticized for not giving away enough money but is now known as one of the world’s leading philanthropists. “While everyone was criticizing him, he was generating a whole lot more money for his foundation, and ultimately, when he got serious about philanthropy, he did it really well,” Mr. Brin said. “I’d like to learn from that example.”

The bulk of the money the Brins have given away has gone to the Michael J. Fox Foundation and other research organizations devoted to Parkinson’s disease. But this year, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Brin family’s immigration to the United States, they have given gifts to several Jewish organizations that aided along the way. HIAS, which helped the family navigate the cumbersome process of leaving the Soviet Union for the United States, paid for tickets, gave them money and helped them apply for visas, received the largest amount.

The family lived in Paris for several months while waiting for visas and then moved to Maryland, and the relationship with HIAS ended. “Although they gave us tremendous help, we didn’t stay connected with HIAS,” said Eugenia Brin, Mr. Brin’s mother. “Then a few years ago, I guess because of Google, we got a call from HIAS asking if we could help them digitize their archives.”

Eventually, Mrs. Brin joined the HIAS board and started a social networking site, mystory.hias.org, initially to encourage Russian Jewish immigrants to post their stories and eventually to attract the stories of other immigrants.

Gideon Aronoff, chief executive of HIAS, said the gift would be put to a variety of uses, like increasing the organization’s use of technology and supporting advocacy on immigration policy.

“One of the most important things that Sergey Brin’s gift signifies, not just for HIAS but more importantly for the nation,” Mr. Aronoff said, “is the possibilities inherent in being a refugee. The debate over immigration has frequently become so bitter that an important element has been lost: refugees are as varied in their skills sets and contributions as the rest of us.”

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The First American Benjamin Franklin must be turning over in his grave.

In Franklin’s City of Brotherly Love, The Free Library ofPhiladelphia announced yesterday that it is closing permanently due to lack of funding from the state government of Pennsylvania.

Ben Franklin who understood the power of words, the power of learning, and the power of a well educated citizenry, invented (as distinguished from founded) the first lending Library in 1731.

It is reasoned that the demise of The Free Library was victim to the economy but also to the digitization of job and government resources. Library usage is near all time highs but because of revenue pressures on government library funding has not kept up.

Knowledge and Education are the great equalizer in America. Free public education and public libraries are keystones to the assuring that America continues to be the land of opportunity. I often note that the free enterprise system of risk and reward is an essential element to our Freedom. Access to knowledge is essential to assure that hard work is rewarded and America is the land of opportunity. Franklin understood this.

Endbar – Library use is exploding in the Sioux Empire as well. Recent circulation data show that usage in the past year has increased 8.2%. Subjectively the number is even higher given the construction at the Main Branch in downtown Sioux Falls. Circulation at the main branch is down slightly (6.4%) because library patrons believe it is closed. IT’S OPEN! Also of note the Siouxland Libraries website, www.siouxlandlibraries.com usage increased over 30% this past year as more patrons are accessing the library online.

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If you have the slightest interest in sculpture, get to the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls to see the Rodin exhibit.

The exhibit, “Rodin A Magnificent Obsession” is a rare treat for South Dakota. August Rodin was a late 19^th Century / early 20^th Century sculptor considered to be the Father of modern sculpture.

There are 62 pieces in the Exhibit that are on loan to the Pavilion from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor foundation. The highpoints of Rodin’s career are display including elements from “The Gates of Hell”, “The Burghers of Calais”, and “Monument to Balzac”.

Former Sioux Falls Mayor, Rick Knobe, and I in March of 1982 at the conclusion of a National League of Cities meeting (junket) to the nation’s capitol before going to catch our plane took in the “Rodin Rediscovered” exhibit at the East Building of the National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery exhibit was far reaching and covered all four floors of the Gallery. There were extensive pieces from “The Gates of Hell”.

The exhibit closes in 3 days (Wednesday, August 5^th is the last day)!

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Note: This post should be considered venting and is not intended to reach the level of a full blown rant. (additional disclaimer – I am an intense user of USPS services and speaking specifically of their service find their pricing competitive, service fast and reliable for small parcels. Besides getting mail pickup and delivery at my place of business, I am generally at the Downtown Post Office twice each day picking up my mail and posting parcels. The window personnel I deal with are professional, knowledgeable, friendly, and relatively efficient (waiting as they wrap packages for patrons can be a little trying).

The United States Postal Service has not had much good news lately with a decrease in mail volume in 2008 of 9 billion pieces or 4½% and it is expected to double in 2009. Losses this year are expected to be $6 Billion. Pretty easy to understand really – the private package delivery services (that cherry pick the business without having to deliver Universal Service and of course Electronic Communications (email), and the recession has crippled mail volume and the junk mailers.

To remedy the decline the Postal Service’s management must change their business plan. To deliver the mail using the model developed by the first Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin (under the Continental Congress from 1785 – 1788) (sorting the mail into little pigeon holes and hand delivering the mail to each patron’s door) does not comport with modern technologies and capability.

Rather than reforming the business plan and reforming management practice to cut expenses, Management are further diminishing revenues by cutting Service. Nationally the Postal Service has had layoffs, consolidations and the Postmaster General has proposed cutting mail delivery from 6 days a week to 5. Do not expect Congress to grant the necessary waiver the Stamp General wants.

This week in an effort to cut costs, the Postal Service put the Sioux Falls Downtown Post Office up for sale. I am not privileged to their logic nor their operating numbers but this seems crazy. This is the same building that there was spent undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of dollars removing asbestos and remodeling two years ago. It may be remembered at the time the furor over changing rental box numbers and sizes and the related expense caused to their patrons. At the time of the reopening Saturday morning business hours were eliminated as was the stamp vending machine in the lobby (try to understanding the logic of that in light of cost cutting). Recently morning service to box holders from 7am to 8am was also eliminated as stated for security reasons. The Meadows Station is still open on Saturday though their hours of service were also recently reduced.

I am not a management expert or efficiency expert but I offer a few suggestions worth considering.

Rather than selling the Downtown location, utilize the large empty plant and offices there by eliminating other properties that are being leased for mail processing and office space for clerical work, marketing and management personnel.

Install at their box locations and Post Offices stamp vending machines, particularly ones that accept credit cards.

For residential mail delivery use box sections on corners, city wide like those found in some newer neighborhoods or like those found in apartments.

Standardize the envelope sizes as an example to #10 and #6 envelopes. Other sizes that are not as machine able for sorting would carry a significant surcharge. Likewise require mailers to use standardized mail labels with 9 digit zip codes. Others too would require a surcharge. Keep in mind that 80% of homes and an even larger % of businesses have access to a personal computer and the Internet. (BTW www.usps.com is a pretty good website and a great way to purchase postage). For those without Internet access, USPS could provide machines in their locations that provide labeling and even put them in other libraries and government buildings.

At the end of the day Good Service will solve their problems not lack thereof. In context of the Government now owning General Motors should we expect that GM will be managed with the vision and execution of the Post Office?

That might be something to think about as we embark on Government sponsored Universal Health Care.

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Straight Talk Commentary – Jews are celebrating Passover the holiday of Freedom this week.

In this context when thinking about freedom, I am troubled by the inclination of the new administration in Washington to continue to increase government control as their policy prescription to every problem. While I want to believe their intentions are well meaning the loss of freedoms undermines both long term solutions as well as what makes America great.

Just for reference Merriam-Webster OnLine defines fascism as:

a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

Blogging Note – Straight Talk has been out of the saddle on blogging the past several weeks for a combination of reasons (Big Dance, Tax preparation, Passover, business responsibilities, and a couple of political campaigns that I am working on). Hopefully with some focus posts will pickup shortly.

Whatever holiday you celebrate, have a good one and let’s all be look forward to spring, renewal and be positive that better times are ahead.

Following are thoughts on Passover by Israeli Statesman Yoram Ettinger.

Passover Guide for the Perplexed 2009

 1.  David Ben Gurion, the Founding Father of Israel (UN Commission, 1947):  “300 years ago, the Mayflower launched its historical voyage. How many remember the data of the voyage, how many passengers were on the Mayflower and what kind of bread did they consume?  However, 3,300 years earlier, the Exodus from Egypt took place. Every Jew knows the date of the Exodus – 15^th of the month of Nissan – and the kind of bread – Matza, leaven bread – consumed.  Until today, Jews all over the world, tell the story of the Exodus and eat Matza on the 15^th of Nissan.  They conclude the story of the Exodus [Hagadah] with the statement: 'This year we’re slaves, but next year we shall be liberated; this year we’re here, but next year in Jerusalem.'”  The prayer Next Year in Jerusalem is recited twice a year: Yom Kippur and Passover, the most sublime spiritual and physical Jewish experiences.

2.  Passover highlights the fact that the Jewish People have been passed-over by history's angel of death, in defiance of conventional wisdom. Non-normative salvation has characterized Jewish history ever since the Exodus, the Parting of the Sea, destruction of the Temple, exiles, pogroms, expulsions, Holocaust, Communist and other forms of Anti-Semitism, on-going Arab/Muslim wars and terrorism, etc. However, the involvement of Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb and Nachshon (the first to jump into the Red Sea before its parting) attests to the crucial role played by principle-driven leaders.

3.  Passover commemorates the transformation from Diaspora- slavery to national-deliverance. The difference between the spelling of Ge'oolah (deliverance in Hebrew) and Golah (Diaspora in Hebrew) is the first Hebrew letter Alef, the root of the Alpha-Bet. The Hebrew spelling of critical root values and terms begins with Alef: G-D, Truth, Faith, Covenant, Credibility, Awesome, Power, Abraham, Light, Father, Mother, Love, Soil, Adam, Courage, Spring, Unity, Food, Responsibility, Immortality/Everlasting, Cure, Horizon, Patrimony, Tree. In order to transform (personal or national) Diaspora into Deliverance one must return to the roots.     

4.  The Exodus took place around 1,300BC, 600-700 years before Greek philosophers promoted democracy, establishing the Jewish People in the forefront in the on-going battle against rogue regimes. Passover is celebrated on the 15^th day of the Jewish month of Nissan – the first month of the Jewish year and the introduction of natural and national spring (Nitzan is the Babylonian word for spring and the Hebrew word for bud). Nissan (its root is Ness – miracle in Hebrew) is the month of miracles, such as the Exodus, the Parting of the Sea, Jacob wrestling the Angel, Deborah’s victory over Sisera, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, etc. The 15^th day of any Jewish month is endowed with full moon, which stands for optimism in defiance of darkness and awesome odds. It is consistent with 15 parts of the Hagadah (the chronicles of Passover), 15 generations between Abraham’s message of monotheism and Solomon’s construction of the first Temple and the 15^th day of the Jewish month of Shvat, Arbor Day – the “Exodus” of vegetation.

5.  Passover has four names: Holiday of Pesach (Passed-over; sacrifice), Holiday of Liberty, Holiday of Matza and Holiday of Spring. It is the first Jewish holiday, according to the Jewish calendar, which starts in the spring (Aviv in Hebrew, which consists of two Hebrew words: Father of 12 months), the bud of nature.  The word spring is mentioned 3 times in the Torah, all in reference to Exodus.  Passover – which commemorates the creation of the Jewish nation - lasts for 7 days, just like the creation of the universe. Passover is the first Jewish pilgrimage and the basis for the other two annual pilgrimages.  Thus, the first stop of the Exodus was at Soukkota (Soukkot/Tabernacles - the 3^rd pilgrimage), and Passover is the prelude to the receipt of the Torah/Ten Commandments (Shavou’ot/Pentecost - the 2^nd pilgrimage).

6.  Passover (role model of Liberty/Exodus) interacts with Pentecost (role model of Morality/Ten Commandments), since Liberty interacts with Morality. The one constitutes a prerequisite for the other. The absence of one means the absence of the other. The Liberty-Morality interaction/interdependence distinguishes Western democracies from rogue regimes. No appeasing-rhetoric would transform rogue regime into a free/moral entity. Herut is the Hebrew word for Liberty and Harut (spelled with identical Hebrew words) is the Hebrew word for Inscription, which refers to the Ten Commandments.

7.  Passover – just like monotheism, the Sabbath, Ten Commandments, repentance/Yom Kippur – constitutes a Jewish gift to humanity. It constitutes inspiration to liberty and to national liberation ("Let My People Go"). Jews have been targeted by enemies of Liberty (from Pharaoh, Nazism, Communism to Palestinian/Arab/Islamic terrorism and Ahmadinejad), because Jews have been rightly perceived as the messengers of liberty as a God-given natural right and equality before the law.

8.  Moses, the hero of Passover, has become a role model of  principled leadership.  Moses’ name is mentioned only once in the Passover Hagadah, as a servant of G-d, a testimony to Moses' humility, in order to humanize – rather than deify – Moses and to highlight the role of God in the Exodus.  Similarly, Moses’ grave site is purposely unknown, and the only compliment accorded by the Torah to Moses – a prime leader in human history - is "the humblest of all human beings". The Mosaic legacy has greatly impacted US democracy, hence Moses’ marble replica at the House Chamber on Capitol Hill, at the Rayburn House Office Building's subway station and at the Supreme Court (holding the Ten Commandments).

9.  Passover inspired Puritans, Pilgrims and the US Founding Fathers:

*George Washington and John Adams were compared to Moses and Joshua.

*Adams, Jefferson and Franklin proposed the Parting of the Sea as the official US seal.

*John Locke considered Moses’ 613 Laws as the most fitting legal foundation of the new society in America.

*Ezra Styles, the President of Yale University, stated that “Moses, the man of God, assembled three million people – the number of people in the America in 1776…” (May 8, 1783).

*President Calvin Coolidge: “The Hebraic mortars cemented the foundations of American democracy…” (May 3, 1925).

*John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massachusetts: “God has entered into a Covenant with those who are on their way to wilderness in America, just as he had entered into Covenant with the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai…” (1630 sermon on the Arbella).

They considered themselves "the modern day People of the Covenant ", King George III was "the modern day Pharaoh", the Atlantic was "the modern day Red Sea" and America was "the modern day Promised Land".

The term Federalism is based on “Foedus”, the Latin word for “The Covenant.” The Founding Fathers considered the political structure of the 12 Tribes, sustaining semi-independence, governed by their own Governors and by Moses the Chief Executive, Aaron, Joshua and the 70 person Legislature, a model for the 13 colonies and the US political system.

10.  The Exodus is mentioned 50 times in the Torah, equal to the 50 years of Jubilee, a historical pivot of liberty ("Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof”, Leviticus, 25, 10, inscribed on the Liberty Bell).  50 days following the Exodus, Moses received the Torah, which includes – according to Jewish tradition – 50 Gates of Wisdom.  Where does that leave the 50 States?! The commemoration of the Exodus is one of the 613 Jewish/Mosaic laws. It is highlighted in most Jewish prayers and rituals, such as the daily prayers, the welcoming of the Sabbath, the blessing over wine, each holiday, upon circumcision, at the door step (Mezuzah) of Jewish homes, etc.

11.  Passover commemorates the victory of Jewish demography.  Jacob arrived to Egypt with 70 members of his family, but Moses launched the Exodus with 600,000 adult males and a total of some 3 million people – quite a demographic momentum.  The Exodus was the first case of a massive Jewish immigration (Aliya) to Israel, in defiance of odds and projections – as have been all major Aliya waves since 1948 - but in touch with Jewish history and destiny. A Jewish Demographic tailwind has currently been in motion between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.  While Herzl launched the Zionist voyage – in 1897 - with an 8% Jewish minority west of the Jordan River in 1900, and Ben-Gurion celebrated the 1947 UN vote with a 33% minority, today’s Jewish State is endowed with a 67% majority over 98.5% of the land west of the River (without Gaza) and a 60% majority with Gaza. 

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February 12^th is the 200^th Anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln is regarded by most historians and most Americans as America’s greatest President. Lincoln preserved the Union and resolved America’s most troubling moral and economic issue – Slavery.

Lincoln is a model for the Nation. He was a self taught and self made man. He epitomized the value of hard work.

To commemorate our 16^{th and} 1^st Republican President, this week I read the special biography written for the Lincoln Bicentennial, “Abraham Lincoln” by James M McPherson. McPherson is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the best contemporary (and certainly the most readable) history of the Civil War, “Battle Cry of Freedom.”

A few quick notes on Lincoln – Lincoln is probably the only politician know by  two nick names – The Rail Splitter and Honest Abe.  Lincoln not only united the North and the South but through his vision of a Transcontinental Railroad, united the East and the West. Lincoln is the only President during whose entire term, the Nation was at war. (At the time of his assassination, there were still Confederate troops in the field.) Lincoln was a President who was not always very popular and was vilified by many; but it was his assassination that unified the Country and burnished his image of greatness.

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I am looking forward to a New Year with hope and optimism.

The recent arrival of my third grandchild, my second Grandson, and his brit mila (ritual circumcision one of the most ancient practices of Judaism) has strengthened my strong sense of the family and its importance, faith and the power of prayer. Aaron’s arrival also has me questioning what kind of world and more specifically America my generation is leaving for future generations.

As I look forward to 2009, I have made a few New Year’s resolutions that are not something I always do. This year I do need to shed those extra 30 pounds I am tugging around, read more books, spend more time with friends, and improve my blogging.

Blogging is a wonderful outlet for me to express myself. I regret that I do it so poorly. Consequently my Big New Year’s Resolution is to blog more frequently, more eruditely, and with far fewer typos. Obviously more proofreading is necessary. With more emphasis on quantity and quality I plan to comment more on the popular culture as well as politics. Additionally I hope to resume The Weekly Reader feature I posted in the past as well as jump start South Dakota Q & A.

I marvel at the fact that others read my comments and appreciate my readers, even those who do not agree. Thanks to all who take a look at Straight Talk occasionally. I also am appreciative to the management, news and web team at KELO for the opportunity they give me to post at KELOland.com.

Presidential Outlook - As President Bush ends his term, I am still one of the now 30% of Americans that support him. I wish our President well back at the ranch and now am looking forward to our new President.

Previously, I stated that given current events Barack Obama will either be a dud like Jimmy Carter or an icon like FDR. BHO will not be an “average” President. I have strong doubts about his long terms success, fundamentally because I question his experience (other than making a great speech – which can be a BIG plus) or with a few exceptions his Cabinet and the people he has surrounded himself with.

In any event, I wish President Obama well and hope he puts forth the Centrist Agenda he is promising. If he does I will be supporting him but probably not without a few questions and comments.

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Reminiscing – It’s been what seems like a short 45 years tomorrow that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

In 1963, I was a senior in High School. The President was coming to town and I with a couple of other friends was going to see him.

Early on that Friday morning, the President would address a Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Breakfast and then give a public address across the street in a parking lot at 8^th & Houston streets. My friends and I arrived very early at the Hotel Texas, about 6:30 am. We were in fact one of the first persons there. We managed to get behind the rope lines right next to the elevators where the President and his entourage would exit to then go across the street to make his public address.

In later years I have been involved with several Presidential visits on behalf of candidates or the party and also been to other venues including the White House on several occasions where the President was in attendance. To say that Security was lax by even pre 911 standards would be an extreme understatement. The state of Presidential Security forever changed after November 22, 1963 as well. Clearly you will never see a President riding in an open convertible automobile again.

Anecdotally, a few years ago I saw a documentary of JFK’s Texas visit and it showed that Vice President Johnson came to Texas in preparation of the President’s visit a day or two early. The documentary showed him arriving by commercial aircraft. That too is not something you will ever see again.

At about 8:30 there was a buzz in the air that the Breakfast had concluded and that the President would be coming out to speak shortly.

In a very few minutes the first of the two elevators descended and the doors opened. Stepping out were Vice President Johnson, Governor John Connally, US Senator Ralph Yarborough (the only Southern US Senator (whom were with the exception of Texas’ Senator John Tower exclusively Democrats) to vote for the historic Civil Rights Bill of 1964), and our local U S Congressman Jim Wright, who later became Speaker of the U S House. They greeted us and went on outside. I had never seen Johnson before and I was struck at how large (physically) a man he was and how even in the lobby he seemed to dominate the room.

Moments after the Vice Presidential Party exited, the other elevator arrived, the doors opened and there was the President. He was alone, no one with him. The first thing that I noticed and what I still remember is the lines around his eyes and despite a radiant smile, how tired he looked. Little did anyone know that 4 hours later he would not be with us.

Then my friends and I proceeded outside to hear the President speak.  It was a cool November morning, overcast and their had been some drizzle earlier. The parking lot was overcrowded and because of our late arrival outside, we had to stand across 9^th Street, nearly a block away. The dignitaries stood on a flat bed trailer with by what today we would call a primitive public address system.

Fort Worth is a very pro defense town. At the time General Dynamics operated the bomber plant and employed nearly 20,000 people. Tarrant County was also the home of Bell Helicopter who then was an emerging defense contractor. In nearby Grand Prairie (in Dallas County) Chance Vaught operated another airplane plan that build fighter aircraft.  Obviously the President talked about a strong national defense and his commitment to it. Mrs. Kennedy who had attended the breakfast did not come to the public speech, I assume because of the weather. I was and still am disappointed that I never got to see her.

After the speech, having seen my first President it was back to school. About noon during lunch the schools office put the radio reports of the President having been shot on the school’s PA system. I remember so many students crying and all the discussion of why did this have to happen in Texas. I sensed the loss and still have a somewhat emotional connection to President Kennedy. Perhaps it’s just that I came of age and aware of national politics at about the same time he won the nomination and became President. I remember being with my Dad at a Texas Meatpackers meeting during the time the Democrat National Convention was held in Los Angeles in 1960. Dad and I sat in our room at the Saint Anthony Hotel and watched Kennedy’s acceptance speech.

My final memory of that day was going to Sabbath Services that evening and seeing an untypically large crowd at services. Young and old alike were mourning the loss of our President.

Endbar – I have never believed there was a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. I have believed in the miracle bullet theory that was adopted by the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination. However this summer, I read the book “Decker” about legendary Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker that has me thinking in different ways about the question of the lone assassin. Decker who was riding in the Presidential motorcades lead car claims he heard shots coming from a different direction than the Texas School Book Depository. Also in the book in the lengthy section about the Assassination, there is reference to a 16^th century French saying that “if the assassin is assassinated it is a conspiracy.”

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Correction 11-22 - The Texas Hotel was located at 8th & Main Streets - it has been a long time since I lived in Cowtown.

Straight Talk Commentary – As Americans celebrate Father’s Day, Juan Williams speaks again to the failure of American Socialism.

No government can love anyone. Many social programs, perhaps while well meaning have failed as Williams’ statistics and arguments demonstrate. Social programs as with economics and taxes – the axiom is correct – when you tax something it gets smaller; when you subsidize something it gets bigger (read here assistance to unwed mothers or TANF).

Single working parent homes can work but nothing replaces a Mom and a Dad.

The Tragedy of America's Disappearing Fathers

By Juan Williams

The Wall Street Journal

June 14, 2008

Walter Dean Myers, a best-selling author of books for teenagers, sometimes visits juvenile detention centers in his home state of New Jersey to hold writing workshops and listen for stories about the lives of young Americans.

One day, in a juvenile facility near his home in Jersey City, a 15-year-old black boy pulled him aside for a whispered question: Why did he write in "Somewhere in the Darkness" about a boy not meeting his father because the father was in jail? Mr. Myers, a 70-year-old black man, did not answer. He waited. And sure enough, the boy, eyes down, mumbled that he had yet to meet his own father, who was in jail.

As we celebrate Father's Day tomorrow, we should reflect upon a sad fact: It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster-care homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them.

When fatherless young people are encouraged to write about their lives, they tell heartbreaking stories about feeling like "throwaway people." In the privacy of the written page, their hard, emotional shells crack open to reveal the uncertainty that comes from not knowing if their father has any interest in them. The stories are like letters to unknown dads – some filled with imaginary scenes about what it might be like to have a dad who comes home and puts his arm around you or plays with you.

They feel like they've been thrown away, Mr. Myers says, because "they don't have a father to push them, discipline them, and they give up trying to succeed . . . they don't see themselves as wanted." A regular theme of their stories is that they feel safer in a foster care home or juvenile detention center than on the outside, because they have no father to hold together the family. There is no one at home.

The extent of the problem is clear. The nation's out-of-wedlock birth rate is 38%. Among white children, 28% are now born to a single mother; among Hispanic children it is 50% and reaches a chilling, disorienting peak of 71% for black children. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly a quarter of America's white children (22%) do not have any male in their homes; nearly a third (31%) of Hispanic children and over half of black children (56%) are fatherless.

This represents a dramatic shift in American life. In the early 1960s, only 2.3% of white children and 24% of black children were born to a single mom. Having a dad, in short, is now a privilege, a ticket to middle-class status on par with getting into a good college.

The odds increase for a child's success with the psychological and financial stability rooted in having two parents. Having two parents means there is a greater likelihood that someone will read to a child as a preschooler, support him through school, and prevent him from dropping out, as well as teaching him how to compete, win and lose and get up to try again, in academics, athletics and the arts. Maybe most important of all is that having a dad at home is almost a certain ticket out of poverty; because about 40% of single-mother families are in poverty.

"If you are concerned about reducing child poverty then you have to focus on missing fathers," says Roland Warren, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, based in Gaithersburg, Md. This organization works to encourage more men to be involved fathers.

The odds are higher that a child without a dad will have more contact with the drug culture, the police and jail. Even in kindergarten, children living with single parents are more likely to trail children with two parents when it comes to health, cognitive skills and their emotional maturity. They are in the back of the bus before the bus – their life – even gets going.

A study of black families 10 years ago, when the out-of-wedlock birthrate was not as high as today, found that single moms reported only 20% of the "baby's daddy" spent time with the child or took a "lot" of interest in the baby. That is quite a contrast to the married black mothers who told researchers that 88% of married black men, or men living with the mother, regularly spent time with the child and took responsibility for the child's well-being.

In his fictional books, Walter Dean Myers has found that the key to reaching young readers is to connect with their "internal life of insecurities and doubts." These doubts and insecurities involve answers to painful questions such as, "do you feel loved, do you ever feel lonely?" These are feelings that are hard to share with a teacher, a coach or even a friend.

More so today than in the past, reaching the heart of insecurity among young people means writing about the hurt of life without a dad. It also means writing about being young and black or brown in the midst of the flood of negative images in rap videos without a positive male role model. These young people see so many others just like them standing on street corners, unconnected to family life and failing at school and work and threatening violence – and in so many cases just like them, without an adult male to guide them.

When these children see Barack Obama, Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice, they tell Walter Dean Myers that those black people must be "special; they are not like me, they don't have the background that I have."

In his own life, Mr. Myers often looked down on the man in his house: his stepfather, who worked as a janitor and was illiterate. He felt this man had little to teach him.

Then his own son complained one day that he, Myers, "sounded just like granddad" when he told the boy to pick up after himself, to work harder and show respect to people.

"I didn't know it at the time," says Mr. Myers of his stepfather, "but just having him around meant I was picking up his discipline, his pride, his work ethic. . ." He adds: "Until I heard it from my son I never understood it."

Mr. Williams is a political analyst for National Public Radio and Fox News.

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